A Special Day
by musician95
Summary: After the last member of the Red Band Society has left the hospital, Brittany and Dr. McAndrew run into each other on the roof.


Brittany leaned over the railing and watched the night fall over the City of Angels. A beautiful moon was rising; bright as never before, so it seemed. In honor of the occasion, maybe? Today was definitely a special day – special and sad, too.

„Brittany? What are _you_ doing up here?"

There was no way Dr. McAndrew could actually be here, but when she turned around, there he was, shivering in his plain white shirt and tie.

"I could ask you the same thing, you know", Brittany said. "How do you even know about this place?"

"Leo Roth told me", the doctor replied, taking a step in her direction. "He said if I should ever get really sad or just overwhelmed by anything, there was no better place to work things out than the roof of Ocean Park Hospital."

Brittany smiled at that.

Leo had been released almost four months ago, after being cancer-free for six weeks. Dr. McAndrew feared that the cancer might come back after some time, but at his last routine check, there was still no sign of it. By now, it seemed extremely unlikely that it would ever reappear, and honestly – what a great feeling, seeing how good Leo was doing and everything.

 _"_ _That's what it's like, helping people",_ Nurse Jackson had told her once. _"This is the best and most important reward you get for all your hard work. So you better enjoy it, sweetie."_

And Brittany enjoyed it, though it wasn't always that easy. Especially now that Emma had left, too. She'd looked after the girl for so long that it was kinda hard, now that Emma had begun looking out for herself.

Of course, as her nurse, Brittany was extremely proud of her little patient. There was a time when she didn't really believe in Emma's recovery anymore, but then after Leo had left, Emma worked as hard as never before to fight her way back to life. They used to have dinner together almost every night, and Brittany couldn't stop herself from grinning when she saw Emma practically _gulping down_ the contents of her plate.

She would really miss these nights; the crazy talks they used to have. Emma was only sixteen years old, but she'd been a very good friend, probably one of the best Brittany had ever had. When they said their goodbyes earlier that day, Emma told her to go up to the roof after she'd left and watch the moon. She promised she'd be doing the same thing; it was what she missed most about home, watching the moon through her bedroom window.

Once again, Brittany couldn't believe how smart that girl was. It felt so utterly comforting, knowing that Emma was watching the same moon right now, and that she'd be having dinner with her family afterward like a normal sixteen-year-old teenager.

"Mind if I join you?" Dr. McAndrew asked then, pulling her back to reality.

"Sure."

Something in the doctor's eyes seemed to light up as he closed the distance between them. Brittany stared down at his hand on the railing right next to hers.

"What were you looking at?" he wanted to know, but she just shrugged.

"The moon, I guess."

"It's really large tonight."

"And really beautiful." Brittany sighed.

This was a memorable day. She had absolutely no reason to be sad, but there was nothing she could do about it. As happy as she was about Emma's recovery, part of her just missed the kid.

Dr. McAndrew cleared his throat. "Brittany, are you okay?"

"It's just… kinda strange", she answered, trying not to get lost in those beautiful eyes of his. "Emma was the last one, and now she's gone, too."

"What do you mean, _the last one_?"

"Well, you know about their little club, don't you?"

Dr. McAndrew shook his head, looking perplexed. "Obviously, Emma was friends with Leo and Dash and Jordi…"

"They called themselves the Red Band Society", Brittany cut him off, staring into the distance. "Leo, Jordi, Dash, Emma, Kara and Charlie. They were, like, Ocean Park's own little gang."

"That sounds crazy", the doctor said after a while.

"Yeah, right? And now they're all gone."

They'd made it out alive, all of them, together. First Charlie, then Kara, then Jordi, Dash, Leo, and now Emma. They'd gotten better not only because of Dr. McAndrew's good care, but also out of faith, luck or whatever else you wanted to call it.

Starting with Charlie, some people might've seen it as a sign of God when he'd finally opened his eyes. Mostly, it was a huge wave of hope spreading throughout the hospital that day – and it was definitely the happiest day that Brittany had ever experienced at Ocean Park.

Ironically, the worst day that she'd ever experienced was the day of Kara's heart transplant, which was also the day Hunter Cole died. Dr. McAndrew had never been so sad, and his mood seemed to infect everyone within seconds. The one good thing about Hunter's death was that it saved Kara's life. In the end, it turned out to be a huge change for her: a chance to prove that she could become a better person; a person that really deserved Hunter's heart. And for everybody else, a sign that humanity wasn't lost after all.

Jordi's recovery had seemed a lot like a miracle. Everyone knew that the surgery he'd chosen to bet his life on would be risky, so when he came out alive _and_ cancer-free, his friends organized this big "secret" party that was only half a secret as even Dr. McAndrew joined in, raiding most of the snacks and ending up semi-drunk.

Only a few days later, Dash had caused a huge surprise (which Nurse Jackson insisted was the result of "young love") by making his illness disappear literally _overnight._ Like everybody else at Ocean Park Hospital, Brittany had heard the rumor of that girl Mae spending the night under the covers with him, but could that really be the reason for his sudden and totally unexpected recovery? Well, who knew.

As for Leo, his story wasn't quite so heroic, though it certainly started that way. In the end, he'd won a long and sometimes painful battle against cancer, and that's all that mattered.

Turned out that the only one left was Emma. Her recovery seemed to be the simplest: all it took was a decision; one that she'd avoided for a very long time. A decision for Leo, for her family, and for life itself.

So that was it. The story of the Red Band Society.

"We did our job", was all Dr. McAndrew had to say to that. When Brittany looked over at him, he seemed deeply lost in thought. "We did our best and it worked out. And sometimes it doesn't. That's just the way things go around here."

She knew he was thinking about Hunter Cole, but mentioning his name didn't seem right. Maybe she could take his hand in hers and squeeze it gently and everything would be okay. But for Hunter, it wouldn't change a thing. Nothing would.

"Dr. McAndrew, is everything all right?" Brittany asked, suddenly remembering his words when he first entered the roof.

 _Leo Roth told me. He said if I should ever get really sad or just overwhelmed by anything, there was no better place to work things out than the roof of Ocean Park Hospital…_

"I might be a little bit overwhelmed", the doctor admitted without looking at her. "That's why I came up here in the first place."

"I figured you didn't come to celebrate the big day", Brittany replied.

Dr. McAndrew managed a tiny smile in her direction. "You don't seem quite in the mood to celebrate, either."

Brittany was staring at the moon again, but then there was Dr. McAndrew's broad hand on her small one and it felt so good, she had to close her eyes and take a deep breath.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

This was wrong, but Brittany found herself unable to pull her hand away. When she looked at Dr. McAndrew, there was a firm look in his eyes, like he was dead serious about this. But still, it was wrong.

"You're a married man", she continued.

It didn't really sound like a protest, though. This was what she'd dreamed about for _years_ , ever since she started working at the hospital. But for Adam – Dr. McAndrew – there'd always been someone else. And Brittany got it, eventually. She understood that she could never be more than a one-night-stand to him. She wasn't smart like Erin or pretty like Jordi's mum. She was just a nurse; a nobody.

"Technically, we're not married", Dr. McAndrew said.

 _Not yet,_ Brittany thought. He and Dr. Grace had been engaged for almost a year now, and obviously, they were planning to get married in May, which was only two months away. Yesterday, Brittany overheard Dr. Grace talking to Nurse Jackson about her wedding dress – strapless white lace. It sounded so perfect that it broke Brittany's heart just thinking about it; thinking about the fairy tale wedding they were gonna have and the beautiful children who would no doubt follow soon after that.

"You know what I'm talking about", Brittany replied, finally pulling away from his touch.

"Brittany. Hey."

God, his voice. It sounded so gentle, apologetic. But there was nothing he needed to be sorry for. He'd done nothing wrong. She was the one who made all the mistakes, right from the moment they first met, when she was already beginning to fall for him. She'd always been stupid enough to let herself fall for the wrong guys. And in the end, she'd always been the one to get hurt.

 _It doesn't need to be this way again,_ Brittany told herself in that moment. _This time, you're gonna do everything right. You're gonna stay away from trouble._

Obviously, in order to stay away from trouble, she needed to stay away from _him._ Dr. McAndrew. If only things were that simple.

"I know what I'm doing", he said softly, and then Brittany felt his hand on her cheek and once again, she was defenseless.

His eyes were everything she'd ever wanted. His hand on her cheek, it was more than she'd ever hoped for. She just couldn't turn away from him now.

"Brittany, you're the only one who's always been there for me", Dr. McAndrew told her. "So maybe it's not that much of a surprise to meet you up here. You're always around whenever I need something. And right now, I just really need a hug."

He pulled her close before she could even open her mouth to protest. His arms locked around her waist, so there was no way of escaping him. Not that she wanted to. For God's sake, this was a dream come true, for however long it might last. Maybe if she just closed her eyes, time would stop and he'd never let her go again. It was worth a try, wasn't it?

But it didn't work. One second, Dr. McAndrew held on to her as tight as he could, and the next, he was gone. Not literally gone, of course. It just felt that way to her; as if his body was miles away from hers, even though it couldn't be more than a few feet.

Then, out of nowhere, he said the words Brittany thought she would never hear.

"Erin and I broke up today. That's why I came up here. And I gotta thank Leo for his advice, because I found something really important on this roof: _You._ "

 _Erin and I broke up today._

Brittany stared at him for what felt like hours as the realization slowly began to sink in.

He wasn't gonna marry Dr. Grace in spring. He wasn't gonna marry her _ever,_ in all his life. They wouldn't have the perfect wedding and the perfect family and whatever else, because there wouldn't be any wedding or any babies _at all._

Suddenly, his future wasn't predetermined anymore and there was room for another person in his life, a person that might be her – Brittany Dobler, a simple nurse who'd spent her whole life fixing other people, but never got to look out for herself.

In that moment, it felt like Leo and Emma had sent the two of them up here for a reason, and a pretty good one.

"Adam –", Brittany managed to say, but he cut her off.

"We should be celebrating. It's a special day for all of us, isn't it?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "A very special one."


End file.
